Force carb emergency!

[BrewBoyJoe]

Hi All,
My SNPA turned out really well and I have a BBQ on Sat with some friends coming around. I have a newly purchased maxi 110 so can no dispense cold beer from the corny
My beer just aint carbing quickly at all! I rolled back and forth for 15 mins at 40 psi and left a day (off the gas). It didn't do much only very slightly carbed at room temp... so presumably flat at 5 deg C or so serving temp! Anyhow, the next day I put on the gas on overnight at 40 psi and not much different after 24 hours.

Can I carb this beer up to 2.5 to 3 co2 (the bottle bought SNPA is quite gassy must be 2.7 or so) vol and have ready to serve by sat afternoon? How should I go about this! No kegerator so beer at ambient temp! Should I just crank it up for 24 - 48 hours to 55 or something higher? Is that going to do it? So graph suggests approx 30 is about right for the beer at 20 deg but I guess I'm in a hurry

Cheers
Joe

[barneey]

The colder the beer is the more CO2 it will dissolve, just don't over do it otherwise you will have worse problems & serve pints of froth.

[BrewBoyJoe]

I was thinking to crank it up for 2 days and then turn it down to serving pressure for 24 hours. Serving pressure is 30psi. I have 4 metres of 5/ 16ths the other side of my maxi 110 so was thinking this may bleed out some pressure. I can allow froth to settle but I can't get bubbles in that arent there in the first place.

What do you think. I am very new to the corny setup! It's a learning process


Cheers

Joe

[asd]

I was thinking to crank it up for 2 days and then turn it down to serving pressure for 24 hours. Serving pressure is 30psi. I have 4 metres of 5/ 16ths the other side of my maxi 110 so was thinking this may bleed out some pressure. I can allow froth to settle but I can't get bubbles in that arent there in the first place.

What do you think. I am very new to the corny setup! It's a learning process


Cheers

Joe

Try sticking the gas down the out pipe on the Corny. That'll get it into solution quicker!

[BrewBoyJoe]

ok thanks. I could swap it around! I cranked it up to 50psi overnight last night! When I get home I may do some more agitation! It's a bit of a black art! I don't know the relationship between pressure (higher pressure) / time and disolving of C02 into solution! I think 30psi over 2 weeks woudl have been ideal but no time for this! Hopefully it'll work and I can impress my buddies at the weekend!

I thought 48 hours of 50psi and then turn it down to 30psi for 48 hours. 30 psi should be the equilibrium for this beer at ambient around this time of year (if serving at 5 deg or so and keeping keg at ambient.... I think that's right for 2.5 to 3 vol co2!)! So I thought I may need to put at 30psi for 48 hours to prevent serving of foam! I have 4metres of 5/16th out pipe from my maxi 110 as discussed so that should bleed off some pressure in anycase!

Cheers

Joe

[alexlark]

Once you got it right make a note of the ambient temp, pressure and how long. For next time.

For lager my routine is 2c and 30PSI for 48hrs. Then 5c and 12PSI (Serving pressure). As barneey says, the colder - the faster it will carb. I know 5c is a bit on the cold side but it soon warms up on a hot patio!

[BrewBoyJoe]

ok thanks, yeah once I've cracked the process I'll be up and running for all my future keg carbing endeavours! It does surprise me that most people seem to have a kegerator! I would love to have the space for one! This would be another good reason to upscale my facilities and build a fully equipped man cave! No women allowed unless they are serving food or dancing on the tables!.... hope my Mrs isnt reading this!

[Jambo]

Hi Joe,

I wouldn't advise going much above 40 psi, maybe even 30 psi. But if you disconnect the gas - shake - reattach gas - repeat, you will get it carbed up quickly.

It is horrible when you overdo it, bear in mind that when foam settles, you get flat beer, so it is definitely worse if you go too high than too low.

Cheers.

[BrewBoyJoe]

yeah that's what it did! After 48 hours of 50si I poured a jug of foam and let it settle... took 5 mins and then drank the beer and it was flat... still drank it tho!
ok so I will pressure up to 30 and do the agitation thing... ill do ten mins and the mrs will do 10 as well!
so does putting the pressure sky high not accomplish anything! Seems like that to me!

[Jambo]

Well it will but you risk overshooting it! Time is key, if you don't have time then correct pressure + agitation + time to settle again should do it, but jacking the pressure beyond where you want to be usually ends in tears. Getting the CO2 back out and rescuing a keg of over carbed beer takes forever!

[BrewBoyJoe]

OK so if i am pouring jugs of foam... which i am... and they are flat after it settles then I have overshot? And so the 30psi 2o mins and repeat should work on this overcarbed beer.. OK that is what we will do

[Fuzzy-felt]

I use party taps with a 5m length of 3/16" beer line for dispensing straight from (mostly unrefrigerated) kegs, and these do a great job of keeping the froth under control. Takes a while to pour, though.

[BrewBoyJoe]

ok that's interesting! Someone else recommended 4m of beer line so this is what I bought! I went for 5/16ths rather than 3/8ths to reduce the amount of beer in the line at the end! Hopefully this should bleed off the pressure! Party tap arrived yesterday so I will connect this all up tomorrow!

Do you run your beer through a chiller / Maxi style system? I just wondered because of course this will affect the carbonation in the pint. What pressure do you keep your ambient beer in the keg? Does it come through the chiller nicely carbonated? How much is left in the line and do you drink the stuff in the outer line or chuck it?

All my messing around with the pressure has been hugely counter productive. I think it likely I will struggle to pour a decent / appropriately carbed beer at my BBQ tomorrow but we shall see. All is not lost, the forecast looks good!

It's at 30psi and I did 10 mins of agitation yesterday. I may try and do this twice again tonight... perhaps pressure it up to 30psi and roll it underfoot while watching the telly this eve! Wonder if I can play my guitar at the same time ....

[Fuzzy-felt]

Joe,
Sorry - I only just realised that you posted your last response. I'm not very disciplined in my carbonation regime. It usually involves giving a squirt of gas up to about 40psi every now and then over the course of the conditioning period (kegs not refrigerated) and then the 5m length!of 3/16" beer line seems to be able to handle whatever is chucked at it. Dispensing pressure is usually about 10 to 20 psi. If it's higher than that I run the risk of the tap not being able to take the pressure and it leaks.
I don't have a Maxi system, so can't comment on how this affects things.
As you have been agitating the keg, it must be that sediment is not an issue. Are you sure that you have no means of cooling the keg down (e.g. in a friendly neighbour's chest freezer)? Getting control of the beer temperature at source is likely to be beneficial. I know you're running out of time though. If you lived near me (SE London) I'd lend you one of my dispense lines to see how much it would help.

[BrewBoyJoe]

Twas a no go unfortunately! Not carbed enough so had to buy bottle beer! Never mind, my chicken was good and my eton mess also went down well! what temp do you serv ur beer fuzzy? ... SO if I leave it for 2 weeks at 30psi with co2 on will it be carbed properly? Does the sediment interfere with the carbonation?

Hope to get it sorted... the punk ipa brewdog just gone into the fermenter so 10 gallomns of beer should do me and the mrs for summer!